VZCZCXRO8608
OO RUEHBZ RUEHDU RUEHGI RUEHJO RUEHMR RUEHRN
DE RUEHKI #1746/01 3181745
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
O 141745Z NOV 06
FM AMEMBASSY KINSHASA
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 5158
RUEAIIA/CIA WASHDC
RHEFDIA/DIA WASHDC
RHMFISS/HQ USEUCOM VAIHINGEN GE
RUFOADA/JAC MOLESWORTH RAF MOLESWORTH UK
INFO RUEHROV/AMEMBASSY VATICAN IMMEDIATE 0012
RUEHXR/RWANDA COLLECTIVE
RUCNSAD/SOUTHERN AFRICAN DEVELOPMENT COMMUNITY

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 KINSHASA 001746 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PREL PGOV KDEM SOCI CG ELECTIONS
SUBJECT: CATHOLIC CARDINAL ISSUES INCENDIARY STATEMENT RE 
DRC ELECTIONS 
 
 
KINSHASA 00001746  001.2 OF 003 
 
 
¶1. (SBU) Summary:  The Catholic Cardinal of Kinshasa, 
Frederic Etsou, conducted a November 13 interview from Paris 
with Radio France International(RFI)where he is being treated 
for illness , and issued a written statement, attacking the 
integrity of the DRC elections and accusing the West of 
seeking to impose a president.  In the current tense climate 
of Kinshasa just prior to an expected announcement of 
election results, and given the importance of the Catholic 
Church, the statements pour fuel on a potential fire in 
Kinshasa.  We strongly urge that Embassy Vatican express USG 
concerns about the statement and interview centered on the 
partisan nature of the comments, and the potential for 
contributing to renewed and serious violence in the DRC.  End 
summary. 
 
¶2. (U) Cardinal Frederic Etsou, Catholic Cardinal of Kinshasa 
and the ranking member of the Catholic Church hierarchy in 
the DRC, conducted an interview with RFI on Monday, November 
13 explicitly casting doubt on the validity of election 
results posted to-date by the Congolese Independent Electoral 
Commission (CEI).  In addition, Etsou issued a written 
statement (informal translation below), explicitly calling on 
 foreign government to cease interfering in the Congo, 
suggesting that the "West and the USA" are seeking to impose 
a president on the Congolese people, and reinforcing the idea 
that major electoral fraud is in the process of being 
committed. 
 
¶3. (SBU) The interview and statement specifically picks up 
and essentially summarizes a series of charges by radical 
politicians in the DRC who are seeking to undermine the 
ongoing electoral process.  Given the very significant 
influence of the Catholic Church in the DRC and existing 
general tension, particularly in Kinshasa, the statement 
could have a major incendiary effect to give rise to renewed 
violence in the capital.  (Note: The CEI is expected to 
announce in coming days the total "provisional" results, long 
regarded as the most sensitive time of the DRC's long 
transition period.  End note)  The Cardinal's observations in 
the interview and statements fly in the face of all 
observations by the substantial corps of international and 
national observers in the DRC, who have all attested in 
statements to-date that the elections and subsequent vote 
compilation appear fundamentally sound.  Indeed, the general 
consensus by the 16 members of the International Committee to 
Accompany the Transition (CIAT) and observers has been that 
the electoral process has represented a great success.  The 
Cardinal's statements certainly also run precisely counter to 
that of numerous foreign senior African and Western 
officials, as well as responsible Congolese leaders 
(including Congolese Church leaders), seeking to reinforce a 
general atmosphere of calm, and to head off renewed violence. 
 
¶4. (SBU) The CIAT conducted an extraordinary meeting November 
14 to discuss the current situation.  All 16 members shared a 
high degree of concern over the Cardinal's statements and the 
potential impact in Kinshasa particularly and the DRC 
generally.  Some members observed that the statement is 
likely to exacerbate divisions within the Church itself in 
the Congo, but in any case could have no beneficial effect. 
Members speculated as to what the Cardinal's motives may have 
been, with several reduced to speculation that the Cardinal, 
aging and ailing in Europe, may have been manipulated by 
others pushing their own agenda.  The Cardinal's written 
statement is itself rather sloppily drafted, referring for 
example to "EUFOROR" (an apparent reference to EUFOR, the 
European Standby Force), the European Union delegation as 
distinct from the CIAT (the EU Presidency and Commission are 
members of the CIAT), and the "West and the U.S.A." also as 
separate entities. 
 
¶5. (SBU) CIAT members debated several methods of seeking to 
mitigate the negative effect of the Cardinal's statement 
without seeming to directly attack the Cardinal or the 
Catholic Church.  CEI President Abbe Malu Malu, himself a 
priest, plans a press conference the evening of November 14, 
and he can be expected to respond in some fashion to the 
statement.  CIAT members also agreed to urge observer groups, 
particularly the group of over 10,000 observers representing 
religious faiths and also headed by a Catholic, to make a 
public statement as soon as possible asserting the views they 
have already communicated to us. These affirm that CEI 
results to-date correspond to their own observations, and to 
the basic integrity of the electoral process.  The Nuncio in 
 
KINSHASA 00001746  002.2 OF 003 
 
 
Kinshasa in earlier conversations, asserted that he needed to 
see the full text for the Cardinal's statement before being 
able to comment further.  The CIAT plans to meet again the 
morning of November 15 to review further options. 
 
¶6. (SBU) Action requested:  Post strongly urges the 
Department request Embassy Vatican as soon as possible to 
express USG concerns over the Cardinal's statements and their 
dangerous potential effects in a volatile environment to the 
Vatican Secretariat.  The partisan character of the comments, 
essentially picking up all major themes of critics of 
President Kabila, is of concern itself, but the real danger 
is the contribution the comments could make to feed renewed 
violence in the country, and in particular the capital.  Any 
steps the Vatican  could take to mitigate the thrust of the 
statements and help calm general tension would be most 
helpful.  Given existing tensions, and that the CEI may be at 
a point of an election announcement at any time, such a 
demarche is urgent. 
 
¶6. (U) Informal translation: 
 
Declaration by His Eminence Cardinal Etsou Nzabi Bamungwabi 
Archbishop of Kinshasa on the Coming Electoral Verdict in the 
DRC 
 
To You, my dear faithful of Kinshasa, 
To the CEI, 
To the CIAT, 
To MONUC 
To the Delegation of the European Union 
To EUROFOR (sic), 
 
I sincerely thank you, my dear parishioners, for your high 
degree of responsibility and love for our Homeland which 
motivated your joy to go vote, on October 29, for the one who 
will be called to the High Office of President and will, with 
the people, have to pull our country out of the economic and 
social morass and stagnation where it has been thrown and to 
guide it toward a better tomorrow of peace, justice, 
prosperity and dignity. 
 
I congratulate you for your courage and your determination to 
end this long transition by way of the ballot box. 
 
You have thereby confirmed before the International Community 
that the Congolese people are free and sovereign to choose 
their own President and his administrators. 
 
I call upon the CEI, the CIAT, MONUC, the Delegation of the 
European Union in the DRC strictly to respect the result 
summaries as recorded at each polling station, collected and 
aproved by the political party witnesses, by your own 
representatives, by the Carter Foundation as well as by other 
credible institutions which saw fit to accompany the DRC in 
the last phase of the birth of the future executive. 
 
I firmly say no and again no to any sort of maneuver which 
would threaten the free, transparent and democratic choice of 
the Congolese people, and which would risk throwing the 
country into useless confusion. 
 
The International Community should cease all efforts to 
impose on the Congolese people the one they have not chosen 
as President.  All such attempts would be a grave, 
irresponsible act and could jeopardize and diminish all which 
makes up the pride and prestige of the West and the USA. 
Therefore no, to fraudulent manipulation of the ballot boxes. 
 No, to that which is not the will of the Congolese people. 
No, to all attempts to impose on the Congolese people a 
candidate expected merely to satisfy the gluttonous and 
predatory appetites of his foreign commanders for the surface 
and underground resources of the Congo. 
 
To officials of the CEI, particularly Abbe Apollinaire Malu 
Malu, we call upon you to declare and announce true and 
credible results which reflect the true vote of the 
Congolese, necessary for a true peace and the beginning of a 
new era of reconstruction of the Democratic Republic of 
Congo, of respect for its sovereignty and national unity.  We 
want peace through the ballot box.  We want peace. 
 
May the Virgin Mary, Our Lady of Suffering, inspire feelings 
of pity toward the people who have so long suffered because 
 
KINSHASA 00001746  003.2 OF 003 
 
 
of everyone's selfishness, including that of the Congolese 
who, for money or power, lend themselves to jeopardizing the 
future of their country, pushing aside the fundamental rights 
of the Congolese people. 
 
To you, my dear faithful of Kinshasa, to you Congolese, 
courage and patience.  May God bless the DRC, may he grant us 
peace, understanding and love to reconstruct our country and 
deliver it from misery and poverty. 
 
My blessing also goes with you! 
 
Frederic Cardinal ETSOU NZABI-BAMUNGWABI 
 
(end text) 
MEECE